Caramel Cheese Cake ~ Chit Chat with Meena Kumar

When we meet lovely friends along with great food that's what I call bliss. Today I am so happy and honored to feature one of my good friend in blog world Meena Kumar who blogs at Elephants and the coconut trees. Meena is such a friendly, down to earth blogger to has many talents up her sleeve. Personally I am huge fan of Meena's blog, right from her recipes, writing, photography and food styling. Her blog has her individuality and you will find a touch of Meena in everything. There have been days I have gawked at her Lychee Pudding,Whole chicken roast, Red wine, Cabbage stuffed with turkey to name a few. I am sure you would have hopped to her blog to virtually treat yourself with her eyecatching food. Over the years that I have blogged I have learnt that blogging itself is an art, apart from cooking, recipe developing, plating, styling, writng a post and so on. But I have found very few bloggers who score high in all aspects and Meena is one of them. Its a pleasure to know her and hop into her space. Today Meena shares with us a gorgeous dessert, and I have not words to express what I felt when I saw her post in my mail box :-). Thank you so much Meena for taking time off your hectic schedule and doing this lovely dessert and chit chat for me. I am so happy to share you and your dessert with all my readers.Over to Meena-

Hello lovely people,

This is Meena the hand behind the
space elephants and the coconut trees .
Blogging has brought me so many good friends and I must say Priya is
definitely one of the best. Cook like Priya and take care of the blog like
Priya. Love the way she pays attention to detail. The bg is constantly changed
to convey a fresh feel, decorations & fonts are color coordinated and up to
date with season and to top it off she develops her own recipe, as a reader
what more can we ask for.

Priya,you truly inspire other bloggers
,every award that comes your way is well deserved. It is such an honor to be
invited to this awesome blog of yours..

CARAMEL CHEESE CAKE WITH RICOTTA CHEESE

Here is my
personal favorite, a from
the scratch, lesser cal version cheese cake with ricotta cheese. An
ideal cake for all year round but a chilled slice in the peak of summer is
simply awesome.

The
caramel on top might looks runny in the pic but trust me it is pretty thick.

CHIT CHAT WITH MEENAPriya : Which
city you are from in India, and where are you staying currently ?

Meena :I am from
Palakkad ,Kerala. Currently living in Connecticut with my husband and daughter.

Priya : Tell me
about yourself & what made you start a blog?

Meena : A complete
foodie by choice, someone who keeps an open mind to all types of cuisines
(drawback of not being a picky eater) , ready to travel on short notice
all the rest is uninteresting
:) I
started the blog as a medium to express myself, a space for my thoughts to meet
inner peace and above all to document memories of everything I
learned to cook that I hope my daughter would cherish and try someday.

Meena : I wanted the blog name to represent
Kerala and not just my cooking hence the name elephants and coconut trees.

Priya: Do you
have any other blog, please provide link.

Meena : Not a blog
but we have a Facebook group known as SADHYARECIPES , pure vegetarian food served for Kerala feast on plantain
leaf is only allowed. Bloggers and non bloggers are welcome to join and post.

Priya: Can you
share any interesting situations that had happened to you after you started to
blog?

Meena : An antique
seller happily gives me a gift for the blog saying it will see good days again,
husband and daughter getting farsighted by picking up odd yet interesting
things for my props.I mean how better can this get!

Priya: You are
an amazing photographer & what is your camera gear like? how long do you
spend time in capturing to editing pictures?

Meena : Thank you
Priya, I am still in the learning stage. I wish I had many gears to name. I
have a Pentax K10 D and 70-300 Tamron lens.I am yet to figure out
how it is good for food blogging or low lightconditions
.On a really sunny day if everything falls in place half an hour is good
enough otherwise it takes longer.I don't do much of editing other than may be
adding light and shadow, copyright or cleaning up edges. But I have this
bad habit of taking lots of pics then I get seriously caught in my own web of choosing
the best one.

Priya: Can you
share with us few tips to a great picture? what works for you?

Meena: I rely on
natural window light , then try different angles by walking around the plated
food. I have very little props so everyday items lying around
the house like packing paper ,chart paper, furniture etc come in handy.Changing
backgrounds as much as possible for every post adds a fresh look in my opinion.

When the
food is cooking I keep everything else ready for the pic so no time is
wasted. Cook and click only when I have enough time to do never when people are
waiting as it gets frustrating. I learn a lot from the net. Studying
professionals works has inspired me a lot ,their style,color combinations
,textures and props used, lighting, playing with shadows, angles, what story
and mood it conveys etc.

Priya: How many
hours do you generally give to ur blog in a day usually ?

Meena : Two hours is
ideal time but most often it goes beyond that.My family thinks I live in
another world :)

Priya: If you
had a chance to start a business venture related to food what will be your
pick?

Meena : A salad bar
or an achar company what do you think of it!

Base :

All purpose flour - 1 cup

1/3 cup - milk powder

butter -2 tbsp

Milk- 1 tbsp or so to wet only

· Melt the
butter and mix everything to a wet sand consistency.Add very little milk
just enough to wet.

· Cut out
a parchment/wax paper in circle (keep spring as guide to draw circle) and
place it on the inside of the spring form baking pan then spread the mix
evenly on to it and press it firm with fingers or flat ramekin.

· Bake at
350 F for 8-10 minutes until the edges are light brown.Once done cool
completely on wire rack before going to the next step.

Note : You may use Graham cracker /biscuit
coarsely powdered mixed with butter(2tbsp) to a wet sand consistency and bake
in same method.

Filling :

Ricotta cheese- 15 oz (1 can)

Sweet and condensed milk - 1 can

Egg-2

Sugar -1/4 cup

All purpose flour -1/2 cup

Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

· Bring
everything to room temperature.

· Slowly whip
the ricotta cheese then add egg one by one then add all purpose flour to it
slowly blend in the sugar too along with condensed milk. Do not beat
too much for air pockets to form.

· Wrap the
outside of cake pan with aluminium foil to catch any leaks from the spring
form.I wanted to do a water bath method but my cake pan did not fit into my
tray so quit that :)

· Pour the
batter on top of the prepared crust and bake it at 325 F for about an hour.That
is until the sides begin to brown and firm up and center is slightly jiggly

· Very
important: When done remove the aluminium foil and cover the hot cake pan
immediately with a tight lid and keep on the wire rack to cool.This is done to
keep the surface of the cake even and the center of the cake does not sink in.Once
the cake cools down refrigerate in the spring pan itself.

Topping : Caramel

Sugar- 1 cup

butter - 1 tssp

Heavy whipping cream - 2 tbsp (optional)

or

Whole milk- 2 tbsp (if heavy w.c is used add only if required)

· Keep an
empty heavy bottom pot on the stove and put the sugar in the middle keep
it on lowest heat. Allow it to melt gradually without mixing or moving let it
melt completely but take care not to burn at bottom.(see notes) .Then switch
off flame.Be very careful while making caramel**(Keep the pot's lid
handy in case anything splutters just protect yourself
holding against it like a warrior:)

· Add the butter let it
melt mix then milks only to make it to the color u like, not too runny.Remember
caramel thickens as it cools

· Get it back to stove
and simmer it to thicken as seen in pic.Let it cool slightly then pour on the
cheese cake and refrigerate.

To
get neat slices :

· Immerse
the knife in piping hot water for a few minutes,wipe it clean and immediately
slice the cake.This is done to get neat slices.Put the knife to heat up back
into the water after few cuts.Do not skip this as the caramel will
get stuck to the knife and will become really messy.

Note:

· If you
feel the caramel is burning immediately remove from stove and let it cool
for some time( don't stir) and get back to stove.

· Do not
leave the cake in room temperature for too long.

Hope you will give this recipe a try and
let us know.

Thank you so much Priya, for giving me
this opportunity.Wish you and the blog all
the very best in the years to come.

Thank you Meena for this lovely dessert and it was great to have you here. Wising you all the best life has to offer and bigger milestones in blogging. And would love to visit your salad bar / achar company someday ;-) and may it be sooner.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed my recipes :-) In case you have tried any of the recipes featured here, do let me know in the comment section. For any other queries email me - cooklikepriya(at)gmail.com